Law Commons^™

The Efficiency Theory Of Causation And Responsibility: Unscientific Formalism And False Semantics, In Symposium, Causation In The Law Of Torts, Richard W. Wright

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Corporate Behavior And The Social Efficiency Of Tort Law, John A. Siliciano

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Products Liability-Proximate Cause, Intervening Cause, And Duty, David A. Fischer

Faculty Publications

The primary emphasis of this article will be on the application of proximate cause in strict liability cases involving physical harm to person or property. This includes breach of implied warranty cases causing physical harm as well as strict tort liability cases. For purposes of the matters discussed in this article, the two theories are essentially the same. The major difference between the theories is that warranty law may recognize some contract defenses that do not apply in strict tort cases. The article will also discuss negligence cases for purposes of comparison and contrast with the strict liability cases. This …

The Reality Of Constitutional Tort Litigation, Theodore Eisenberg, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The Decline Of Cause, Judith Jarvis Thomson

Philip A. Hart Memorial Lecture

On April 2, 1987, Professor of Philosophy, Judith Jarvis Thomson of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, delivered the Georgetown Law Center’s seventh Annual Philip A. Hart Memorial Lecture: "The Decline of Cause."

Judith Jarvis Thomson works in ethics and metaphysics. Her book, The Realm of Rights (Harvard University Press, 1990) is a study of the questions what it is to have a right, and which ones we have. An article entitled "Self-Defense" appeared in Philosophy and Public Affairs (Fall 1991); another entitled "On some ways in which a thing can be good" appeared in Social Philosophy and Policy (Spring 1992).

Her …

U.C.C. Survey: General Provisions, Bulk Transfers, And Documents Of Title, David Frisch

Law Faculty Publications

The 1986 Annual Survey described the "check it back to local law" approach to the Code's choice of law rules. Recent cases emphasize this. For example, in Madaus v. November Hill Farm, lnc., the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia applied the Virginia pre-Code conflict of laws rules to a dispute between a West German seller of a horse and a Virginia buyer. The court applied the Virginia rule that the law applicable to the validity of a contract is the law of the jurisdiction where the final act necessary to make the contract binding was done. …

Protection Of Shipowners’ Liability Under United States Law And Marine Insurance Practice, Izak Stephanus Fourie

LLM Theses and Essays

Shipowners are exposed to a variety of risks that are, to a large extent, unique to maritime business. Because of factors like the recent increase in the size and value of ships, increase in marine traffic, enactment of legislation imposing new liabilities, and the tendency of courts to make huge awards to personal injury and death claims, shipowners are exposed to potential losses or claims worth millions of dollars in the event of disaster. These heavy risks led to the establishment of the marine insurance industry, as well as the enactment of legislation that limits shipowners’ liability. This legislation was …

On Sugarman On Tort-Chopping, Oscar S. Gray

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Musings On Modern Products Liability Law: A Foreward, David Owen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Fault Concept In Personal Injury Cases In Minnesota: Implications For Tort Reform, Michael K. Steenson

Faculty Scholarship

Legislative tort reform proposals have attempted to restore what is perceived to be an imbalance in the tort-litigation system by limiting tort recoveries. One of the motivating factors behind tort reform proposals is a concern that tort law has deviated from a fault-based system of liability. It is this concern over the structure of the fault system in Minnesota that is the subject of this Article. This Article examines Minnesota Supreme Court opinions of the 20th Century to determine whether the court's decisions deviated from a fault-based system of liability. The focus is on change, accepted and rejected. The purpose …

Privacy, Emotional Distress, And The Limits Of Libel Law Reform, Jonathan L. Entin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Torts, Ralph Michael Stein

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

During the 1986 Survey year, a number of cases of interest to practitioners were decided by the courts of New York. There have been several new legislative enactments which will also have a direct impact upon the practice of tort law. These enactments are analyzed elsewhere in this Survey volume. Following past practice, cases of the greatest significance will be highlighted, as well as those oddities which make tort law a stage for the human comedy.

Strict Liability For Chattel Leasing, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Leasing has become an increasingly popular substitute for outright purchases as a means of acquiring products for use. Few courts and commentators, however, have addressed the question of whether the principles of strict products liability which apply to sellers also apply to lessors. In this Article, Professor Ausness reviews the historical basis for imposing strict liability in tort on sellers and applies these rationales to five basic kinds of lease transactions. He concludes that strict liability should not apply when a product defect arises after the leased product is placed in the hands of the lessee (as contrasted with the …

Design Defects In Equipment: When Are Government Contractors Liable For Injuries To Military Personnel?, Emily Calhoun

Publications

No abstract provided.

Whence Knowledge Intent? Whither Knowledge Intent?, David Jung, David I. Levine

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Whence Knowledge Intent? Whither Knowledge Intent?, David I. Levine

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Seduction And The Myth Of The Ideal Woman, M. B. W. Sinclair

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Duty To Warn In Products Liability: Contours And Criticism, M. Stuart Madden

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Regulation Of Entrepreneurial Litigation: Balancing Fairness And Efficiency In The Large Class Action, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

Just as war is too important to be left to generals, civil procedure – with apologies to Clemenceau – is too important to be left to proceduralists. Although it would be a serious overstatement to claim that all civil procedure scholars are confined by a tunnel vision focused only on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, they have as a group been reluctant to engage explicitly in incentive-based reasoning and seem particularly hesitant to reexamine what they must know to be a noble myth: namely, that the client can and should control all litigation decisions. Within an important and expanding …

Asbestos And The Dalkon Shield: Corporate America On Trial, Joseph A. Page

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Asbestos and the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device share a number of unhappy distinctions. Both products have exacted a terrible human toll. Damage suits seeking recovery for harm linked to both have put considerable strain on the judicial system. Corporate decisions made in the course of marketing both have been deemed reprehensible. Manufacturers of both have sought refuge in bankruptcy. And both have provided the grist for hard-hitting books by veteran investigative journalists.

Paul Brodeur's Outrageous Misconduct: The Asbestos Industry on Trial returns a harsh verdict against the Manville Corporation and others directly and indirectly involved in the production of what …

Rethinking The Class Action: A Policy Primer On Reform, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

Today, virtually everyone has a proposal for "reforming" class action litigation but both consensus and coherence are lacking. Some proposals are bluntly restrictive. For example, the Reagan Administration would reduce attorney's fees, place a ceiling on product liability, and partially repeal treble damage statutes. In the same vein, the United States Supreme Court has shown itself parsimonious on the question of fee awards, by authorizing fee waivers, approving offers of settlement that seemingly permit fee shifting against the plaintiff's attorney, and curtailing the traditional bases on which a fee award may be enhanced. Other proposals have offered essentially neutral procedural …

Causation In Torts, Crimes, And Moral Philosophy: A Reply To Professor Thomson, Paul F. Rothstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Professor Judith Jarvis Thomson's provocative article, 'The Decline of Cause,' focuses on the diminishing importance of causation in law and moral philosophy. In this reply, I suggest answers to some of the questions Professor Thomson raises.

Professor Thomson's article revolves around various forms of a classic dilemma: two persons take equal care but, through chance, their actions produce different results. Does the outcome of their actions matter in a moral assessment of those actions? Professor Thomson first sets out what the styles as the Kantian and 'moral sophisticates" position that the outcome of an act does not and should not …